Stubby fly - Phasia aurulans

Moved

Moved from Phasia.

… Aaron Schusteff, 19 December, 2011 - 11:49pm

Phasia aurulans?

In Europe this would be Phasia aurulans and I notice that you have the same species in North America :)

… Chris Raper, 10 December, 2009 - 6:17pm

Phasia

Chris, when I checked the University of New Hampshire database, they listed Phasia aeneoventris, diversa, subopaca, fenestrata, phasiodes, pulverea, and splendida. I couldn't find pictures of any of these species on the internet. Could it be that one of these species is a look alike for Phasia aurulans?

… tom murray, 10 December, 2009 - 9:55pm

Phasia info

Tom & Chris: I've been intensively studying the 2003 monograph by Sun & Marshall(1), and by carefully reading the descriptions of all 14 of the nearctic species treated therein I was able to verify that the distinctive (roughly pentagonal) spot on the thorax is uniquely diagnostic of male P. aurulans, at least in the nearctic. (Well, actually there are two species, luctuosa and occidentis, that are not treated in Sun & Marshall, and are listed as "undescribed" in in this catalog...so it's conceivable one (or both!) of them might have a similar thoracic spot. But I'm banking on that being unlikely :-)

By the way, I noticed that the last three taxa Tom listed in his comment above have been synonymized in Sun & Marshall(1): P. phasioides and P. pulverea are now part of P. robertsonii, and P. splendida is lumped with P. aurulans.

… Aaron Schusteff, 20 December, 2011 - 12:07am

Phasia aurulans

Aaron, thanks for researching this and coming up with the species identification!

… tom murray, 20 December, 2011 - 7:57am

Tachinidae

Hello Tom,
Richard might be right, this is certainly a fly that belongs to the Tachinidae, subfamily Phasiinae. I don't know whether the name Alophora is still used, in Europe this genus is nowadays called Phasia!
Greetings,

… Gerard Pennards, 11 August, 2006 - 6:00pm

Yes, it is

Most likely a male of the genus Alophora, as indicated by the special, broad wings.

… Richard Vernier, 11 August, 2006 - 9:15am

Phasia sp.

Thanks for the ID Richard and Gerard!!!

… tom murray, 11 August, 2006 - 8:44pm